Paranormal Activity 2Review

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The sequel to the horror hit of 2009 is out, but is it as scary as the original?

By Steven Bradford

Video cameras? Check. Spooky noises? Check. Vague nonsense about demons? Correct and present. Annoying characters with slightly wooden acting? Hello, sir. Yes, 2009's low-budget, hype-tastic horror-phenomenon Paranormal Activity is back, to once again make us stare furiously at a static screen and then freak out at the odd rattle of saucepans.

After notching up $195 million across the globe, the reigning champ of the found-footage horror genre was always sequel-bound. However, heavy hearts will remember that the previous title-holder was The Blair Witch Project. That movie's post-modern (and post-quality) follow-up Book of Shadows single-handedly chiselled "don't hack out a rush-job sequel" into the Horror Cliche Commandments, to sit comfortably alongside "don't go down to the basement."

Exit Theatre Mode

Happily, Paranormal Activity 2 successfully bucks the sucky sequel trend (and even chucks in some basement-related fun to boot) being just as effective as the original -- mainly by being a straight carbon copy of it. With new director Tod Williams' taking an "ain't broke, don't fix" view of Paranormal Activity 2's horror-by-surveillance camera, it successfully grinds tension out of nothing but footage of an apparently empty room until letting rip with a solid shock from the unwelcome house guest.

The last we saw of the thing that bumps people off in the night, it was violently flinging Paranormal Activity's lead and all-round irritating berk Micah arse-first at his video camera. So it's a shock (and disappointment) to see him and girlfriend Katie alive and well towards the start of Paranormal Activity 2.

It turns out this is a prequel, with Katie being the sister of new lead character Kristi: wife of Dan, mother of toddler Hunter and step-mom to 17-year-old Ali, and it's their swish, Californian house where we're going to spend the next 90 minutes.

From here we tread over exactly the same territory as the first Paranormal Activity 2 movie -- complete with doomy thuds -- as the footage captures the splintering of the family's domestic tranquillity.

During the day, we get a bunch of exposition through their HD camera, and when night falls, we're treated to an endless cycle of CCTV -- the pool, the lounge, the stairwell, the bedroom -- often left staring at the screen like it's a magic eye puzzle. Is the curtain twitching? What the hell was that noise? When will something actually happen?

And when it does, it's well worth the wait. Armed with an arsenal of slamming doors and massive bangs -- sometimes together -- this still manages to outgun any of Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes' remakes. However, Paranormal Activity 2's secret weapon is the rising rumble that announces that pots and pans are about to be banged; John Williams might not be sweating the competition, but this signature tune still plays havoc with an audience's nervous system.

Tapping directly into those primal fears of home invasion and your darkest imagination of what all those creaks that rattle around your home at night are, Paranormal Activity 2 once again lets its audience fill in the gaps for it. And where it drops points for originality -- as well as a slightly rushed ending -- it picks them back up when it comes to raising the emotional stakes (cute baby and family dog trumps annoying couple, any day of the week).

It goes without saying, then, that if you sat through the first flick wondering what the fuss was about -- it's low on gore and slow of burn -- you should avoid this like a horrible, boyfriend-tossing demon. But for fans of Paranormal Activity, whose events are given a new twist by the action here, the latest set of tapes released by the California police department should be checked out immediately.